I know there are some great DIY builds on these 10 gallon rubbermaid coolers. Most I've seen are 3/8" valves. I wanted a 1/2" so it would be the same size as the manifold. Also included is an updated price on the build and the manifold as well. I will list the part# from Lowe's. Lowe's has in-store pickup, all you have to do is punch in the part numbers add them to the cart, pay, and pick up items in 20 min. I know this is a joy for us DIYers since most of my time on this project was spent in the store looking for that specific part and size. Best thing of all it's a FREE service.

The only modification I had to do to the hardware was I had to enlarge the inside diameter on the 3/4" Stainless Steel washer (part 137697). I did this by putting it in a vise and using a drill and a small grinding stone.

Will that plastic tubing not collapse from the heat and weight of the mash? Just curious. I know I have tried to use similar tubing during wort transfer from mash tun to boil kettle and it wanted to collapse on itself due to the heat softening the tube.

Will that plastic tubing not collapse from the heat and weight of the mash? Just curious. I know I have tried to use similar tubing during wort transfer from mash tun to boil kettle and it wanted to collapse on itself due to the heat softening the tube.

Otherwise, a very nice looking setup. :cheers:

I too would be worried about the plastic tubing. I accidentally put a vinyl tube on my mash tun ball valve instead of the high temp tubing. When it heated up it softened and kinked at the nipple. I had to hold it up the entire drain to get the wort to flow.

Mine is similar but oriented the other way. I too was concerned about the tubing mashing closed so I minimized the tubing length. I used an offset (2 45 angles offset so they exit the crossbar in the center to line up with the output hole. The ends sides aren't soldered for cleaning. I have done 2 pumped vorlaufs with no problems at all. It fits super tight so you can bang around all you want with a mash paddle without it moving at all. It actually snaps into place under the exit tube so it won't go anywhere.

Mine is similar but oriented the other way. I too was concerned about the tubing mashing closed so I minimized the tubing length. I used an offset (2 45 angles offset so they exit the crossbar in the center to line up with the output hole. The ends sides aren't soldered for cleaning. I have done 2 pumped vorlaufs with no problems at all. It fits super tight so you can bang around all you want with a mash paddle without it moving at all. It actually snaps into place under the exit tube so it won't go anywhere.

Very similar. Almost made it the same way but after reading Palmers How to Brew online it said that you get better efficiency if you have your cross bars parallel to the valve. I know mine is a little different since the flow is going away from the drain then channels to one drain tubing. Havent seen what my efficiency is since I have yet to do my first all grain. What is your mash efficiency? Id like to compare once I get the all grain process down.

I too checked with John Palmer before building my manifold. Mine is from the book appendix-E Design option 3 except I put my return in the farthest tube instead of the third cross tube. I do know there have been changes and differences between the book and online versions but I read again that chapter and I don't see where it says the spine orientation should be toward the output. As for efficiency I had a bad day and as far as the numbers I'm not sure about anything much. I had so many problems I'm just glad I had sweet wort and fermentation with krausen that rose high. I measured 1.047 on the just over 6 gallons I collected.